Slumping Giants drop 6th straight

PHOENIX (AP) — Josh Collmenter fought his way through five innings, Aaron Hill drove in two runs, and the Arizona Diamondback sent the San Francisco Giants to their sixth straight loss, 4-1 on Friday night.

The Giants still lead the NL West, but have lost nine of 10 to see a lead that was once 9 1/2 games dwindle to less than four.

The last-place Diamondbacks extended their misery behind a gritty effort by Collmenter (5-4) and by knocking around Tim Lincecum (5-5)

Paul Goldschmidt had two hits off Lincecum, raising his average to .577 against the two-time Cy Young Award winner.

Addison Reed worked a perfect ninth to close out his 17th save and Arizona’s third win in 10 games.

Collmenter had lost two straight starts, allowing six runs in six innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers his last time out.

The right-hander labored through his night, needing 31 pitches to get through the first. Pablo Sandoval had a run-scoring triple in the inning, chugging his way around the bases after center fielder Ender Inciarte just missed a diving catch in the gap.

Collmenter continued to run up his pitch count, yet found ways to wriggle out of jams. He walked two in the fifth inning and got out of that by striking out Sandoval and getting Michael Morse to fly out to deep center.

Collmenter allowed a run and four hits, struck out four and walked four.

Lincecum has was solid in his last two starts, allowing five combined runs after giving up eight against Cincinnati on June 3.

Like Collmenter, he struggled. Unlike Collmenter, he didn’t always get out of it.

Arizona scored two runs off the right-hander in the fourth inning, on Hill’s single and a double by Martin Prado. Arizona added a run in the fifth on a run-scoring triple by Chris Owings, who was thrown out at the plate while trying for an inside-the-park homer.

Hill made it 4-1 with a sacrifice fly that scored Goldschmidt, who improved to 15 for 26 against Lincecum with his second hit of the night, a double off the wall in left-center. Hill hasn’t been bad against Lincecum, either, with 11 hits in 19 career at-bats.

Lincecum allowed four runs and seven hits in six innings.

NOTES: The Diamondbacks signed first-round draft pick Touki Toussaint. Arizona took the right-hander from Coral Springs (Fla.) Christian Academy with the 16th pick in this year’s draft. ... Giants OF Angel Pagan missed his fourth straight game with lower back pain, but manager Bruce Bochy said he could be back in the lineup Saturday night. ... Arizona RHP Brandon McCarthy will pitch in the middle game of the series against Giants RHP Ryan Vogelsong.